1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus capable of displaying received messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a radio pager or similar communication apparatus produces, on receiving a message, an alert tone while displaying the message. When the user of the apparatus presses a switch in response to the alert tone or the display of the message, the message is written to a memory as a confirmed message. On other hand, when the apparatus is put in, e.g., the user""s bag and fails to urge the user to press the switch despite the alert tone or the message display, the received message is written to the memory as an unconfirmed message. The presence of the unconfirmed message is indicated on a display later. This type of radio pager is taught in Japanese laid-open patent application show a 58-501571 by way of example.
When an unconfirmed message is present, the above conventional radio pager causes a particular portion of the display to blink in order to allow the user to see the presence of the unconfirmed message. Assume that when the user causes the pager to sequentiallly read and display stored messages, the messages include an unconfirmed message. Then, on the appearance of the unconfirmed message on the display, the pager causes the particular portion of the display to blink so as to allow the user to see that the message is not confirmed yet.
Japanese laid-open patent application heisei 7-79459 discloses a radio pager constructed to count unconfirmed messages and compare the number of unconfirmed messages with a preselected reference value. When the number of unconfirmed messages exceeds the reference value, the pager informs the user of the presence of the unconfirmed messages. The user can therefore determine whether or not the number of unconfirmed messages is great.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus constituting an improvement over the conventional radio pagers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus capable of displaying the number of unconfirmed messages at least in a stand-by state thereof, there by allowing the user of the apparatus to see the number of unconfirmed messages.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus allowing the user of the apparatus to see the ratio of the number of unconfirmed messages to the total number of received messages.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a communication apparatus allowing the user of the apparatus to see the number of unconfirmed messages received within a particular period of time.
In accordance with the present invention, a communication apparatus includes a receiving section for receiving a communication signal, a storage for storing a message contained in the communication signal, a display for displaying the message, a decision section for determining whether or not the message is an unconfirmed message left unconfirmed by the user of the apparatus, and a controller for displaying on the display the number of messages determined to be unconfirmed messages by the decision section.
Also, in accordance with the present invention, a displaying method for a communication apparatus includes the steps of determining whether or not a communication signal has been received, storing a message contained in the communication signal, displaying the messages, alerting the user of the apparatus to a call incoming, determining whether or not the user has pressed a switch, storing the message as an unconfirmed message when the user does not press the switch, calculating the number of unconfirmed messages, and displaying the number of unconfirmed messages.